marque

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. A model or brand of a manufactured product, especially an automobile.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals; a letter of marque

n. A brand of a manufactured product, especially a model of motor car

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. Seizure.

n. Originally, a commission granted by the supreme authority of a state to a subject, empowering him to enter an enemy's territory and capture the goods or persons of the enemy in return for goods or persons taken by him.

n. In present usage, a license or extraordinary commission granted by a sovereign or the supreme power of a state to its citizens to make reprisals at sea on the subjects of another, under pretense of indemnification for injuries received—that is, a license to engage in privateering. Letters of marque were abolished among European nations by the treaty of Paris of 1856. The United States declined to accede to this agreement, but proposed that all innocent private property at sea be exempt from seizure by public armed vessels in time of war.

n. Hence— A private vessel commissioned to attack and capture the vessels of an enemy; a privateer.

Examples

We had the honour of sharing with Louisiana the picturesque gentleman pirate Lafitte, who was said by his enemies to make love or to scuttle a ship with equal success, and by his friends to be a seigneur with letters of marque from the French government.

Toyota: The recall crisis at the Japanese carmaker has spread to the Lexus, its luxury marque, which is essentially built on the same platform as Toyota's third-generation Prius and shares the same software fault in its braking system.

"I think we are looking at the end of September depending on how he reacts," hope not, it'll be like getting the 'marque' signing everyone's been crying out for city beat 2 nil by the pirates with tevez sitting in the stands haha, get used to you stupid greedy cunt